


Operation Firebird

by oozbub



Category: Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six (Video Games)
Genre: Gen, White Mask - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-20
Updated: 2019-10-05
Packaged: 2020-03-08 11:09:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 12,117
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18893422
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oozbub/pseuds/oozbub
Summary: It’s not every day the shared apartment of two Rainbow operators is set aflame with a white mask left on the porch. Luckily, Maxim "Kapkan" Basuda is on the case. There's obviously a lot to uncover, but exactly how much is a lot, and how powerful is the White Mask that did this?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> lowkey for @aniolly cause she won't stop bugging me about the Russians.

It’s not every day the shared apartment of two special force operators is lit aflame with a mask left on the porch- especially the apartment two Rainbow operators, and the mask is one of a terrorist. Luckily, the apartment was vacant at the time and a majority of their belongings had been saved, but needless to say, they weren’t very happy to learn they would _have_ to stay at the base because their home had been partially charcoaled.

Regardless of how they felt about it, the question of _‘How in the hell did a terrorist find their apartment?’_ quickly arose, bringing many concerns with it. While that was quickly answered with the report that one of them had been drugged and searched by a now not-so-petty robber who rifled through his wallet, only more questions surfaced. Such questions were _‘What did the Masks find out?’_ and _‘If they’re here, where are they?’_

While the first question was pretty impossible to answer without one of the Masks involved and a hell of a lot of intimidation, the second was more realistically attainable. Many operators were tasked with cracking the second question, as well as a handful of notably talented recruits, but the main investigators were Ryad and Maxim. Though a different kind of hunt, both were up to the challenge as well as suited for it. With seemingly effortless help from Timur who would spot the smallest- almost unnoticeable- inconsistencies, they were off to a good start.

Progress stalled near the 42-hour mark however, seemingly at a dead end even with all the information in front of them. Hunched over dozens upon dozens of papers and in front of a loudly whirring laptop, Maxim's eyes scanned over the words in front of him for what felt like the 100th time. The recruits had done a damn good job at getting information, but it wasn’t very refined. That part was his job.

He sat up when a cup of coffee was placed on the far right side of the table, and Ryad assumed his spot on the stool next to him once again. He sipped his coffee, observing Maxim from the corner of his vision as he popped his knuckles, then ran a hand through his hair. Ryad could tell he was burnt out from receiving and sieving through data, and he looked over at him properly,

“You should go get some rest.”

“I’m not tired,” Maxim responded almost immediately, barely taking his eyes away from the papers littered on the desk in front of him.

“Then at least go eat something, you’ve been cooped up in this room over the desk for much too long. I’ll continue sifting through this, a 30-minute break would do you good.”

Maxim considered it, then nodded, “Alright. I’ll be back.”

“Take your time.” Ryad hummed. While he hoped he would actually end up going to bed, this was significantly better than nothing, and he didn’t want to spoil his chances by pushing him about it. Maybe someone on his way to the kitchen would be able to convince him.

With a pat on the back from Ryad, Maxim slipped off the chair and made his way out of the room, rubbing smudged graphite off his hands as he went.

The halls were quiet, and understandably so, as most everyone was in their beds. It was half-past 2AM, and a considerable amount of operators had pulled all-nighters the day before to really chip in their skills. Maxim had of course done the same, but he was also more accustomed to staying awake longer than he should.

He entered the cafeteria-like kitchen to see Timur at a circular table, staring at… something colorful on a plate. He wasn’t quite sure what it was and judging by the look on his face, Maxim figured Timur was as clueless as him. Grabbing a bowl of some random leftovers, he sat next to him,

“What is that?” Maxim asked, not even looking at his food before eating it.

“I don’t know. Jordan handed it to me and told me to figure it out. I don't think it’s edible, but it might be? Look at this.” He took the spoon he had and poked the top of it, and the spoon sunk into it. Then, he whacked it, and the spoon bounced right off while the figure maintained its shape completely.

“Huh… Have you tried eating it?”

“I won’t do that until I know if it’s edible or not. Maybe I can convince Elias to try it for me.”

Maxim snickered, “As if he’d need much convincing. I’m sure simply asking would be reason enough for him- I swear that boy would do anything.”

“Maybe you should ask him to protect you then,” He pointed to Maxims bowl with his spoon, “I believe that’s Dominic's food, I heard him telling Marius he’d beat the soul out of him if he even thought about eating it.”

“He can start complaining when he helps more with this damn ‘investigation’ we’ve got going on. I expected him to be of more help, but apparently not.” He grunted, taking another bite. Timur looked surprised,

“Is that why you’re still awake? It’s been nearly two days- you should rest soon. Being exhausted will only slow progress more so than sleeping would.”

“I know that. I just feel like we’re so close to putting it together, there’s a piece I’m missing that’s right in front of my face, and I’ve been looking for it for hours to no avail. I don’t want to sleep until I find it.”

“How long have you been looking for it?”

“Too long.” He yawned, “A couple hours, at the least.”

“Maybe I can help, then. You say you’ve narrowed it down to a few places, right?”

“Right, but we just can’t figure out which to eliminate because we know so little about all of the areas. If we can’t get anything else off them, we’ll have to send some recruits to investigate, but considering the sheer amount of areas, it would take forever even with multiple teams.”

“Well, let’s start with what we do know, then. We know either O#14 or O#61 was the target, likely O#61 as that lady tried to rob him as he left the bar, and it’s unlikely they knew O#14 lived with him. That girl, she’s obviously involved somehow- either hired or one of the Masks posing as a petty thief. O#21 or O#63 were the ones who scared her off- correct? Maybe with a good enough description, you could find her.”

“We’ve tried that, and she’s just… too normal. There are too many results for average citizens, even when we narrowed it down to ones with criminal backgrounds, there were still too many. We tried different filters that were as accurate but specific as we could get them, but none of the results were her. #63 said she saw her wearing a cross necklace, though it doesn’t help much. Even with this info, the two areas closest to churches are the least likely.”

“Maybe she’s not from here- and that’s why you couldn’t find her.”

“I could try and get access to international files, but I don’t want to try until I’m sure, which I’m not. If she’s not from here, that wouldn’t explain how she ran from #21 and #63 so quickly. #21 said she looked like she knew exactly what she was doing- where she was going. That’s something more suited for a local.”

“Then maybe she has a local friend who showed her the ropes,” Timur suggested, “Do they know any places she could have headed off to?”

“No, they said she ran off to the right after hopping the fence, and the closest place that way would be the…” Suddenly, it all clicked, “The bar…! Goddamnit, it was there all along, wasn’t it? Timur- you’re a genius!” He exclaimed as he stood up, rushing out the door as fast as his legs could carry him.

 

Maxim woke up to a silhouette above his face, the outline of tousled hair telling him it was likely Shuhrat. He blinked, allowing the light to balance and reveal that it was in fact him. He sat up and yawned, giving him a confused look,

“Do you need something?”

“You’re the lead on this new mission.” He said, “I want to be allotted on this one.”

“You _want_ to be allotted? Why?”

“I need a reason?”

“I suppose not, but it would help your chances if you had a genuine reason why you would be better suited than someone else,” Maxim said, untangling his leg from the blanket and getting out of bed, glancing over at the clock. It read 12:25, pretty late for someone who’s part of a spec-op force, but understandable given the fact that he hadn’t slept for nearly two days.

“I am not, I want to be assigned for personal reasons,” He spoke in an icy tone, more serious than he usually was.

While he was never very expressive, he was rarely so stoic outside of a mission. Maxim pondered if the cause of the change in tone was the same reason he had asked to be assigned to the mission. Maybe he felt like he was already on his own, personal mission. To do what exactly- Maxim didn’t know.

Maxim rifled through his clothes as he continued the conversation, “Well, wanting to be part of a mission does typically put you above those who don’t want to. I’ll consider it.” He already decided he’d fulfill his request and put him on the roster but hoped that planting the idea of otherwise would squeeze a bit of information out of the other man. It didn’t work.

“Thank you.” Shuhrat gave him a curt nod, then left his room, leaving Maxim confused and curious. What about this mission was this important to him, but he couldn’t- or simply didn’t want to- talk about it?

He shook it off for the moment, changing into a thin shirt and baggy pants. He tossed his jacket over his shoulder, then tucked his laptop under his arm and exited his room.

Now the halls were more lively, small groups of people walking together and chatting about topics ranging from gritty missions to a bird they heard chirping one morning. He didn’t necessarily mean to eavesdrop, but it was oddly therapeutic getting a snippet of the lives of people he barely knew; it pulled him back into a bigger, more human world. Even though they were fellow operators who could handle themselves, it remind him of the little things he fought for.

After many minutes of walking, he arrived at an empty briefing room, glancing at the number above the door to make sure he was at the right one. He scrawled “Operation Firebird” on the whiteboard on the door before walking inside, flicking on the lights as all the blinds were already closed. He connected his laptop to the overhead projector, then went to work designing his plan.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: Suicide/Noose mention.

Zipping up his jacket over his bulletproof vest, Maxim hopped out from the passenger's seat of the car, staring over at the bar that he remembered walking in to less than a week ago. Erik was to his right, his vest on top of a long sleeved shirt of the same color, but that was it. To his left, Shuhrat was struggling with a faulty zipper, finally able to get it up after sucking in his chest and being less aggressive with the zipper. A bit down the street, Dominic was on his bike, his vest also completely concealed. Erik picked up his bag, then they headed to the building.

Maxim gently tugged at the front door, hearing the tap of the metal lock. He let the door go and looked over at Erik, who already had his bag open. He examined the lock, then took out the appropriate lockpick and went to work. It didn’t take him long, quietly pushing the door open after about 10 seconds of fiddling with it.

They swept the ground floor first, Maxim not expecting to find much as it was all in view for random strangers to see. They found a pistol behind the bar, which wasn’t that out of place, but the assault rifles just a shelf below it were. He let Erik take care of jotting down the details- at least the ones that weren’t scrubbed off. They did a simple check of the rest of the floor, nothing else useful turning up. As they headed up the stairs, Maxim whispered to the two behind him,

“Do you think anybody’s here? We’ve been stealthy, so if they’re not out, they shouldn’t know we’re here, but there hasn’t been so much as a floorboard creak to indicate either.” He mumbled, carefully choosing where to step.

“Maybe they’re sleeping,” Shuhrat said in a hushed tone, following his steps exactly.

“Or maybe they’re here and they know we’re here. Expect the worst.” Erik warned, his voice even quieter than the other twos’. He immediately split off once they reached the second floor, going up another flight to the last floor.

Maxim, on the other hand, went to investigate the left side of the second floor, Shuhrat taking the right side. Maxim found a bedroom and an office on his side, as well as a bathroom between the two. He started in the bedroom, checking everywhere he could possibly think that was quiet enough to search. He’d received the all-clear from Erik, but not yet from Shuhrat, who had a much bigger space to deal with.

Next, he searched the bathroom, repeating with the same practice of inspecting everything as long as it didn’t make noise. He found nothing, not even strands of hair that could be brought in for analysis. These guys were either the most thorough bastards on the planet or Maxim had messed up somehow, and they were at the wrong location. He didn’t know which he preferred.

Lastly, he went to the bedroom, pushing open the door slowly and immediately freezing. A corpse lay in the middle of the room, and a noose from the ceiling fan. He tucked his nose under his jacket, the smell not overpowering yet, but still prominent enough. He checked for hostiles first, then went to the body, hesitantly pulling down his jacket. He put his radio up to his lips,

“No hostiles on the Second Floor East Side, but I’ve got a corpse. Middle-aged male- I’m taking a guess he’s the owner of this place.” He let go of the button for a moment to allow the other two to speak if needed, and to examine the corpse. Neither spoke, so he continued, “He looks to be choked to death. The only sign of a struggle is dried blood on his nails, but most of it has been cleaned off, what’s left is barely noticeable. Maverick, I’ll need you to come take pictures of this. There’s a noose in here, they were likely planning to frame his death as a suicide.”

“Copy. Fuze, do you have anything I need to document as well?”

“No, there’s been nothing on my side yet. I’m going to search the last room now.” Shuhrat replied quietly, making his way to the door once the radio went silent. He slowly turned the knob, then swung the door open to about a 150º angle.

He let go of the handle, noticing a sideways paper on the floor in front of him. He scanned the rest of the room, which seemed to be relatively clean, aside from more papers strewn on the bed, fluttering from the breeze filtering in through the open window. He leaned down to pick up the paper, grabbing hold of it right as he glimpsed a shoe coming around the back of the door.  _ ‘Damnit! Always check behind the door.’  _ He thought, unable to stand up straight fast enough to avoid receiving a knee to the stomach. He grunted, stepping back and turning to face his assailant in a swift movement, dropping the paper to free his hands.

He was facing at a girl who seemed vaguely familiar, and who was also now rushing at him. He dodged, trying to grab her arm but being thrown off by bumping into the bed and he ended up grabbing the air instead. She whipped around, seizing his retreating arm and yanking him into a punch across the face. He took hold of her arm while her elbow was in front of his face, kicking at her side to free his right hand. She let out a short yelp, stumbling back.

Maxim heard her from the bedroom he was in, turning away from the drawer he was looking through, “Shuhrat, what was that?” He asked through the radio, not waiting for a response as he got up and rushed out the door.

Meanwhile, Shuhrat had forced the woman onto the bed with her hand behind her back but unable to keep her there as she rolled over, kicking him in the face with both her feet. He cried out in pain, feeling blood drip out of his nose; in the moment of shock, she moved behind him, her right arm wrapping around his neck and her left hand gripping his wrist.

Maxim appeared in the doorway, holding his gun up and ready to shoot. He was greeted by the scene of a woman holding Shuhrat, her back in front of the open window. While his left arm was straight down, his right arm was up, his hand loosely gripping her forearm. Standing on the fire escape platform outside of the window, a man had his pistol pressed into Shuhrats temple. He was also ducked halfway behind him, eliminating the possibility of a quick shot that wasn’t likely to hit Shuhrat instead.

Maxim watched as Shuhrat let go of the woman's arm and lowered his right hand, his expression blank but his teeth clenched. The woman nodded at Maxim,

“Lower your gun, or he’ll blow his brains out. Put the gun on the ground.” She ordered, then lowered her voice, now talking to Shuhrat, “If you do so much as twitch, there will be the same result. I am not opposed to using your corpse as a shield.”

Maxim took note that her accent was not English. He slowly lowered his gun, but didn’t put it on the floor. The girl looked ready to bark at him again, but the man spoke before she could.

“C’mon, Lia, let’s go.” He said in a smooth tone, not even addressing Maxim though staring him dead in the eyes.

The girl climbed backwards out of the window, hesitating to let go of Shuhrat even once she was on the fire escape. She finally did, pushing Shuhrat forward and he gasped for air, falling to the ground.  The two jumped down the stairs before Maxim could raise his gun to shoot them and he rushed to the window, peering out for a split second before ducking back inside when a bullet whizzed past his nose and dug into the wall above the window.

He turned his attention to Shuhrat, who was pushing himself up off the floor and still gasping in air. He holstered his gun, helping Shuhrat stand.

“I’m okay, I’m fine… ” Shuhrat rasped, rubbing at his throat as his breaths evened out. With a closed fist, he hit the vanity, “God damnit!”

He looked at Erik when he entered, who looked reasonably confused as he cautiously holstered his pistol.

“What happened?”

“I let them get away.” Shuhrat hissed, “I should’ve checked behind the fucking door.” He was visibly upset as he walked out of the room, picking up the paper he had dropped as he went.

Erik watched him leave, taking a minute to process what he knew had happened. He moved to the side of the bed, looking at the now-crinkled papers on top of the sheets. He skimmed over them as he listened to Maxim talk through the radio to Dominic, describing two people who he could only assume had stirred up the commotion. He put the papers back on the bed, going to his bag that he had left at the door, taking out his camera.

He saw Shuhrat in front of one of the large windows, holding a tissue to his nose as he looked at the paper in his hands. The sound of Dominic’s bike revving then driving off could be heard through the open window, and after lingering for a second, Erik went back to the papers on the bed, taking pictures of them one at a time.

Maxim watched from over his shoulder, arms crossed in front of his chest, “What do we have here?” He asked, leaning forward a bit.

“Plans. Very detailed and very dangerous plans.” Erik answered, “Would you mind getting the paper from Shuhrat? I believe it goes with these.” 

Maxim nodded, “I should probably check up on him anyway. I’ll be back in a minute.” he walked out of the bedroom, making his way over to Shuhrat. He put a hand on his shoulder  when he was close enough, “Are you okay?”

“Okay enough, I’ll live.” He answered, sucking a breath in through his teeth as he popped his nose, “I’m assuming you want this paper?”

“Hold on. I meant are you okay- mentally too? You were excessively upset about what was just a simple mistake.”

“I’ll live.” Shuhrat repeated, shrugging Maxims hand off his shoulder and handing him the paper silently.

Maxim debated on if he should say more about it but decided leaving him be was probably the best choice at the moment. Instead, he decided to distract him with the mission, giving him back the paper and putting his other hand on his back, “Come, you can give him the paper yourself. I’m sure he will need your help with something as well.”


	3. Chapter 3

Gathered around the table in the briefing room, Maxim, Shuhrat, Erik, and Timur looked over the bits of information the former had gathered at the bar. Dominic was originally supposed to be in Timur's place but he hadn’t wanted to be part of the investigation from the start, getting out by arguing Erik could do the exact same thing he’d be useful for. Timur was interested in the operation and had asked to help in an attempt to become more involved. To him, going over the evidence felt like a word-based puzzle- it felt like a challenge.

Ryad was also supposed to be there, but he had managed to fall asleep after being awake for nearly three days, and nobody wanted to wake him until he got a minimum of seven hours.

Looking at the papers on the table, Maxim clapped his hands together, “Alright, before we get into this shit, let’s go over what we already know or can safely assume.” He turned to the whiteboard, picking up a marker, mumbling to himself as he wrote. When he was done, he underlined the last bullet point which read, _‘Neither of them are from here. The man is likely from America, the woman from a Slavic country. Broaden search.’_

“That one is mostly for me to pass onto the recruits, but it could be useful for one of you eventually,” He turned back to the others, “So. We don’t know much about them aside from the fact that they knew O#61 from… previous incidents, but we know they haven’t been here long. They’re both Masks and certainly some of the not stupid ones; they know how to clean up after themselves, and well. I believe the only reason we were able to catch them is because they got caught off guard, she wanted a simple robbery to fund their plan and instead found an operator who had backup. Any questions so far?”

Everyone remained silent, all with their eyes on him except Shuhrat, who was looking at the floor. He looked upset, similar to the way he looked after the tussle in the quarters above the bar. Maxim noticed, and tapped his shoe on the floor in his vision,

“Shuhrat, are you okay?”

“Yes.” He answered, not looking up. Maxim frowned.

Erik cleared his throat, “I’m going to get a glass of water.” He gave Shuhrat a firm pat on the shoulder, then left the room.

Timur sat on the table, turning to face Shuhrat, “What’s wrong? Don’t say nothing, because it’s not true.”

He grunted, uncrossing his arms and averting his gaze to the ceiling before looking at the other two, “That woman. She was at the bar- when we went out drinking.”

“Well, yes, that’s how she drugged-” Maxim was cut off.

“No, I mean, I noticed her. I didn’t pay much attention to her at the time but she kept looking at us. I should have paid more attention to her.”

“Surely you’re not blaming yourself for this, Shuhrat?” Maxim stepped toward him, but he jerked away.

“I am not blaming myself, just stating the truth. I was supposed to be the sober friend- the protector and the safety net. I had my eye on you three, but him… I was supposed to watch him just as closely. Not that I don’t care about him, but what if that had been one of you instead?"

“It wasn’t one of us. The woman drugged him after we left, there’s nothing we could have done about it. Plus, we left him in the care of Marius and-” Timur reasoned, also getting cut off.

“I should have told them about her, then.”

“You were preoccupied with Alexsandr drunkenly yelling at his phone, and you were also a little bit tipsy, it could have happened to any of us.”

“But it happened to me. I’ve been making too many mistakes lately. Did Maxim tell you I didn’t even check behind the door, and that’s why I got ambushed and they got away?” He wanted to say more but only managed a breath, so he closed his mouth.

Timur put his hand on his shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze when he didn’t pull away, “Nobody blames you for any of this, Shuhrat. We still have viable plans to pursue, and even if we didn’t, we’ll pull through with whatever we have. You don’t need to stress over this so much, okay? We still think of you the same- as our strong, reliable friend.”

He was silent, staring at the floor again for a moment before pulling Timur into a hug. He held him tight, tugging Maxim into the embrace as well. He cleared his throat, his voice muffled from being between them, “Thank you.”

“It’s no problem,” Timur said, hugging him back. Maxim smiled softly and did the same.

Erik returned a few minutes later, a mug of piping hot coffee in his hand. Maxim was writing on the board again, and Shuhrat and Timur were going over the papers on the table. Timur looked up, and nodded to the coffee,

“Nice water you have.” He joked.

“Thanks. It’s earth flavored.” Erik retorted, taking a sip of it then placing it on a side table. He rounded around the chairs, stopping to stand next to Timur, and Maxim assumed the space next to Shuhrat.

“So,” He leaned over the table to look at the further papers, “What exactly do we have? I didn’t look too closely while photographing the papers, I just saw a glimpse of what sounded like bad shit.”

“Their plan for an attack, they’re going to try and take out a portion of the power grid by driving a truck into a generator. Not many civilian casualties from it directly, but some papers mention attacks from sub-groups that are supposed to happen while the power is out.” Maxim explained, pointing to various papers as he referenced bits from them.

“When?”

“Tomorrow. At approximately 7:45PM.”

“Fuckin’ A… What’s your plan?” He asked, leaning forward to look at Maxim properly.

“…Get there before the truck does, take out all hostiles that could already be there, evacuate any civilians or workers, then find some way to stop the truck. That’s what I’m currently stuck on, but I’m considering just planting a land mine.”

“What if it’s a trap?”

“We don’t have much of a choice, there’s no time to do anything else. We can’t risk them getting what they want.” Maxim stood up, walking to the door, “I’m going to gather operators and recruits so I can get teams together, I will need you three there as well. If you see Ryad, could you send him? Don’t bother with Dominic.”

 

Maxim stood in front of the group of people, now nearly two hours later from when he started gathering people. He had found most people in or around the canteen, getting or eating their dinners. He had to use the intercom to find the rest of them, some of which weren’t happy to hear that he didn’t actually need them at that moment, just later.

He was surprised to not see Ryad among the crowd but he was oddly proud that the man was finally getting some real sleep. He gave a summary of the situation, pausing when he was done to scan the crowd for any bored faces.

“I’ll need someone to recon the area first,” He heard Taina snort quietly, and saw Emmanuelle elbow her when she did, “…and keep watch for the truck once we’ve cleared the area. Olivier?”

Olivier nodded from the crowd, “That’s my specialty- of course.”

Maxim wrote his name on the whiteboard behind him, “Then we have my team- Timur, Erik, and Shuhrat.” He wrote their names as well, “We’re expecting a lot of hostiles, and a lot of hostages, so we’ll need those of you that are exceptionally good shots.”

A hand darted up from the back, “I’ll go.”

Without missing a heartbeat, another voice piped up, “And me.”

“Ah Julien, …Gustave.” He pondered for a moment, glancing over at Olivier. He knew Olivier and Gustave were not on good terms outside of combat but had never actually seen them together during a fight. Usually, when organizing a team, people never chose both of them as they just didn’t want to deal with it.

Praying they were both mature enough to handle it, he added Julien and Gustave's names to the list.

“Anyone else? Emmanuelle, Craig, you two would be helpful as well.”

“Mh, why not? I guess I could help.” Emmanuelle shrugged, and Craig nodded,

“You can sign me up.”

Maxim smiled slightly as he added their names, “Lastly, I’ll need some teams stationed around, as backup in case the grid does go down. We’ll need you out there, protecting civilians near any heavily populated areas or places with a substantial amount of money. We don’t know how long this would be for but Recruits, do you think you’re up for it?”

He got some cheers in response, and chuckled, dismissing everyone else and meeting with the recruits that walked forward, forming groups and writing names down. He assigned groups different locations, and tasked them with researching the areas they would be protecting, then waved them off.

With a sigh, he looked back at the only others who had stuck around- A.K.A. his new team. He crossed his arms, looking them all over and thinking for a moment.

“We’re going to need camouflage for you five.” He said, drawing a line by pointing from Gustave to Julien, Emmanuelle, Olivier, and finally Craig.

“What about Erik?” Craig asked, jerking his thumb towards the man in question.

Timur quietly butt in, “His uniform is already rather earthy- like his water.”

Maxim snorted, Shuhrat giving a slight smirk and Erik just rolled his eyes.

“We’ll decide when we actually get a look at the area. You’re all dismissed, we’ll go over a more detailed plan at… 8AM tomorrow. Eat breakfast before that, and don’t be late.” He started to walk off, “Oh, all but you, Timur; I need your artist's eye to help with camouflage.”

Timur gave a short groan but followed him regardless.

As they walked, Maxim felt his phone vibrate and he took it out of his pocket, checking it to find that he had gotten a text from Shuhrat.

 _‘There was something I meant to tell you.’_ It read.

_‘And that something was…?’_

_‘When that man had the gun to my head- before you walked in- the woman said something else. She said “You have taken everything from me. I plan to do the same to each and every one of you.” What do you think she meant?’_

_‘I don’t even have a guess. Was there anything else?’_

_‘She didn’t say anything else and I couldn’t really tell, but I think I saw the man smile a little. The weird thing is, she almost sounded genuinely pained- like we had actually done something to her.’_

_‘That’s impossible, she’s not in our database at all and nobody recognizes her. How could we have done anything to her?’_

_‘I don’t know. If the recruits manage to find her, I want to look into her relations. If any of her friends or family are dead, I want to know and I want to know how.’_

_‘I’ll let you know if they come up with anything.’_

_‘Thank you.’_

Slipping his phone back into his pocket, Maxim thought about what the woman could have meant. Of course civilian casualties at their hands weren’t non-existent, but they were few and far between, and any victims or close relatives were instantaneously added to their database; there was no way she could have lost someone at their hands but they couldn’t find her. On top of that- why did the man smile about it? If she had truly lost someone, wouldn’t he feel remorse about it? He trusted Shuhrats judgment on the smile and the pained voice, but something still just didn’t make sense.


	4. Chapter 4

Maxim didn’t bother with listening too closely to the others, only barely paying attention to scan for anything of actual importance. It was nearly 17:00 and they had been picking their way through the foliage for the past 15 minutes. Luckily, Olivier and Gustave had managed to remain mature and not bicker with each other, likely because Julien had positioned himself between the two as early as he possibly could. On top of that, Emmanuelle talked quietly with Olivier to keep him busy, as did Julien with Gustave. So far, Maxim hadn’t regretted picking them two and he hoped he wouldn’t be forced to change his mind.

Olivier split off first, needing enough distance to remain safe while he inspected the area, but also being close enough that he could reach the rest of the team in just a few minutes if he needed to.

Timur was next to break off about five minutes later, making his way up the hill at the back of the generators structure to get a good vantage point on as much of the area as he could.

As they approached the fence, Maxim noticed the light for one section of the fence was flickering- and decided that was where they would go in. The team ducked into the bushes, giving Olivier time to survey the area outside while Emmanuelle did the same with her drone that she had driven inside the building.

Maxim checked his watch as he waited, which now read 17:11. They were right on schedule, and if the fight went well, it would stay that way. He watched Twitch’s camera feed over her shoulder, taking in the number of hostiles and their positions.

Olivier only counted 6 hostiles outside, which made Timur’s job much easier. With the quietest pops from his sniper rifle, the masks stationed outside dropped one by one with no more than a spray of blood. The man was talented, only the last Mask becoming aware of his falling associates, but not soon enough before he too lifelessly slumped to the dirt.

“How many are we looking at, Twitch?” Maxim asked, taking lead once again as he crept towards the building.

“A lot, around 70. They’ve 10 stationed in most rooms, and 4 in each hallway that has a door that goes outside.” Twitch said, dimming the brightness of the device on her forearm and taking her gun off her back.

The first few rooms were relatively easy, Erik burning open small holes in the wall and they took care of the enemies inside the rooms from the outside. The next ones weren’t much more challenging, Craig going in first with Julien behind him, the duo swiftly taking out any and all hostiles they saw, as soon as they saw them. Maxim installed traps behind them as they went, proving to be very useful as a few Masks had managed to circle around, getting facefuls of explosives as they tried to sneak behind them.

The basement was the real challenge, random bits of pipe obscuring vision, crates and metal machinery randomly jutting out and getting in the way. The Masks obviously knew the location better, a few being so good at navigating and choosing the best cover that Maxim wondered how they were so smart, yet still stupid enough to join a terrorist organization.

Once they had cleaned the building of enemies, the search for clues began while Gustave individually did a quick check-up on each of them. They had just barely over an hour until the next phase of the plan was supposed to begin, so Maxim took his time individually searching every corpse, finding nothing more than ammo and radios. Much good either of said items did them.

Time seemed to creep by, but soon enough it was time to position themselves outside, ready and waiting for the truck. Erik positioned himself on the roof with Craig, both taking opposite sides.

Julien and Gustave were positioned on the South side of the building, under the flickering light and near the breach in the fence where they had entered, Emmanuelle pulling what she could off the computers on that side. On the North side were Shuhrat and Maxim, Maxim peeking around the open door and down the dirt road while Shuhrat searched the last of the White Masks.

“I see the truck.” Olivier's voice crackled over the radio, “It’s about 100 kilometers away.”

Soon enough, the truck came barreling down the dirt road and with one shot from Timur, the driver slumped over the wheel. He shot out two of the tires, and the truck skidded and slowed a bit before slamming into the concrete pillar that supported one of the gates.

“There’s a second vehicle coming as backup,” mumbled Timur, “The driving is too erratic, I can’t get a clear shot on the driver.” He fired a few shots, only one coming into contact with the windshield while the rest dug into the dirt.

“Lion, can you see anyone else?” Maxim cautiously made his way in the direction of the fence as he spoke, ducking behind concrete barriers and peering over them to look at the entrance. Shuhrat was right behind him, kneeling behind a sperate barrier.

“No, this seems to be the only one. I can see a bomb in the truck, though the timer hasn’t started. Yet. Was this in the notes for their plan?”

“No, the bomb nor the second vehicle were mentioned. They must have been added last minute- after we got to them.” Maxim watched as the vehicle skillfully drifted and came to a stop, just as the fourth bullet from Timur’s gun finally shattered the windshield. The man in the driver's seat didn’t move as Timur shot his window, cracks splintering across it with each bullet.

The men in the back seats got out to provide ‘covering fire’, only to be quickly taken care of, courtesy of Julien. The one in the passengers' seat seemed hesitant, hiding behind the car for multiple seconds after getting out. He didn’t bother to raise his gun as he peeked around the front of the hood, ducking back when a bullet from Erik whizzed past his face. He suddenly bolted out and this time, three of Erik's bullets landed square in his chest.

Timur thought this was odd, watching the scene through his scope periodically as he reloaded his sniper rifle. He tried to shrug it off as he pulled the butt of his gun back to his shoulder, but it gnawed at him as he fired into the drivers' side window. Realization hit him right when the glass caved, and he scrambled for his radio,

“Wait- don’t shoot him!”

It was too late. One shot from Craig and the man collapsed onto the wheel, the horn blaring when he did.

“Shit,” Was Craig's only response.

“Shit.” Echoed Timur, “Lion, what’s the status on the timer?”

“It’s definitely counting down now, but it’s… What the fuck?” He paused for a half second, “It’s not counting down properly, it’s jumping from one minute to five seconds, then back up. I have no idea when it’s going to blow, it could be any second now.”

“Roger. Everybody retreat- now!” Maxim ordered, sprinting to the fence and ducking through a hole in it, being careful not to get his hood stuck in the wire.

“What in the…” Timur mumbled to himself, then spoke his radio, “Fuze! What the fuck are you doing?!”

Maxim turned to see Shuhrat was no longer with him, and was running to the crashed truck instead. He stopped climbing through trees and bushes, and started yelling back to the other man before remembering his radio, shouting through that instead.

Shuhrat ignored all the yells from his teammates, focusing on getting to the truck. He yanked open the passengers' door, stepping over a terrorists corpse and climbing in to see a boxy timer in the console that read  **00:46** , still periodically jumping to other random numbers.

He pushed the driver's hand off the timer and used his knife to pry the panel off the top. He tuned back into his radio to hear Julien talking to him, just as anxious but less angry sounding than the others.

“Shuhrat! Can you hear me? What do you see?”

His hands were shaking slightly as he turned on his phone's flashlight, looking into the box, “Just- just a lot of wires, some look painted over.”

Upon hearing Shuhrat respond to Julien over the radio, everyone else went silent. Gustave and Emmanuelle led Julien further away from the site as he spoke through the radio- while they trusted his abilities, something could always go awry and they weren’t willing to risk losing a second operator.

“Just focus,” Julien continued, “Figure out the real colors of the wires, and tell me where they lead.”

He felt his heart rate increase as he examined the wires, taking a deep breath as he organized them in his head. He couldn’t remember feeling this panicked ever before in his life, he had always been able to keep his cool in less- and more- dire situations than this. Julien's calm and guiding voice managed to keep him relatively composed, his hands shaking less violently as he followed his instructions. He used his knife to cut wires as told, not hesitating for even a quarter of a second.

“Last one, cut the second to right wire. The one you said is painted blue.”

“…Are you sure?” There were so many wires still left, Shuhrat didn’t know how he could be sure he could have gotten all the ones he needed to prior. What if there was still one more wire, and cutting this one early meant certain death? He took a deep breath.

“Trust me. The wire painted blue, second to right.”

He held in the breath, gripping the wire and slicing through it. The timer stopped, switching to read  **00:18** before the numbers faded away. He stared at it with wide eyes, letting out his breath after waiting a few seconds to confirm he had really done it.

Maxim didn’t hesitate to rush over to him, rounding around the car door and opening his mouth to shout at him, stopping when he saw him swaying. He bit his tongue and helped him out of the truck, feeling him stumble and lean against him when he got on his feet.

Shuhrat pulled up his goggles to reveal tired eyes, surrounded by his warm, pink face. He was sweating, and bits of matted hair were sticking out from under his helmet.

“Sorry.” He mumbled, snapping back into reality enough to stand straight and properly take in his surroundings.

 

A few minutes later they were all huddled around the front gate, including Olivier and Timur. Everyone was fairly exhausted, but Maxim and Timur looked like they still had enough energy to lecture Shuhrat for the next three days without rest.

Shuhrat let out the slightest chuckle, whispering under his breath, “I can’t believe that really worked.”

“There was no guarantee it would have.” Maxim snapped, cold eyes staring into Shuhrats before he averted them, “I gave you orders to retreat.”

“You could’ve been killed,” Timur added quietly, but most certainly loud enough for him to hear.

“I wasn’t, and now we are here. I was tired of messing up and tired of being accused of not caring enough. This was my step towards redemption.” Shuhrat said, taking a gulp of his water.

“Shuhrat, we’ve been over thi-” Maxim was cut off.

“Maybe I’m looking for redemption from others. It’s not easy being constantly accused of the things…  _ they _ accuse me of.” Shuhrat looked back at Maxim when he said this, his eyes carrying a hint of sadness.

Maxim went silent. They had made it clear he had nothing to prove to them, that they would always trust him, but it most certainly wasn’t like that with a lot of the other operators. He continued to stare, then let out a sigh,

“Don’t let it happen again.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FAQ:  
>  **Why was there a bomb?**  
>  The Masks figured Rainbow would show up to stop their plan, so they hoped a bomb would take out the generator in case the truck didn't make it, as well as maybe a few Rainbow operators.  
>  **Why does Julien know which wires to cut?**  
>  His elite looks like a bomb-squad uniform, so I headcanon that he at least has some training when it comes to this sort of stuff.


	5. Chapter 5

Hunched over the table in the same briefing room he started in, Maxim stared at all the paperwork in front of him. After spending so much time in this room, he was starting to hate it. He was starting to hate this case too, the two Masks from before weren’t any of the corpses at the generator, meaning they were still out there, likely plotting something else. Though their notes didn’t suggest it, a sinking feeling told Maxim there was a lot more planned.

Suddenly, Maxim bolted up, restlessly pacing the room. There was nothing else to find in the papers, no encrypted message, no magical answer, no nothing. It was just what had passed and nothing more, and this upset him. What is a hunter meant to do when stranded in a still forest? He had slain the wolves, but there were no more tracks and the bears were still silently lurking.

He wanted to throw the papers off the table but knew it would do nothing. Instead, he walked out of the room, marching down the hallway and to the cafeteria-kitchen. He stopped when Julien passed him in the hallways, and didn't even have to call his name for him to notice.

"Do you need something?" Julien asked, peering over his shoulder before turning to face him.

"Maybe." He thought for a few moments, "How would you rate your detective skills?"

"Uhm, maybe a little better than average? At least when I'm not focused, I can catch a lot more when I am focused. Why?"

"Hm. Good enough."

 

Once again, Maxim found himself in front of that  _ fucking _ bar. He didn't particularly want to be back there, but he had no other leads. His only hope was that they had missed something before, and this time they'd be able to sniff it out.

Julien was behind him, slipping the car keys into his pocket. He stared up at the building, then walked towards it, having to put his hand on Maxim's back and gently nudge him forward to get him to snap out of it and walk on his own.

This time, the front door was unlocked, and the sign on the inside of the window next to the door said 'Sorry, we are closed!" in cursive font. Maxim remembered watching a recruit pull out the sign from under the bar and hang it up, but he knew it had never been used before. He'd gone to this bar multiple times, and plenty of said times the bar was closed, but no sign was present.

Keeping this situation under wraps meant hiding every piece of evidence that the situation even existed from the public, including keeping police tape away from crime scenes. Of course, the recruits he deployed a couple days prior were a bit fishy, but they did a fairly good job remaining inconspicuous, even wearing police badges instead of their unit patch. Only one of the teams had been posted about on social media, but it had received so little interaction it wasn't worth dealing with.

Again, Julien had to nudge Maxim to get him to snap back to reality, patiently holding the door open for him. Maxim quietly thanked him and headed inside, then cleared his throat,

"Alright. Julien, we're looking for things that are not going to be in plain sight, ok? Erik, Shuhrat and I have already swept this place and found nothing, so if there's something here that we missed, it's hidden extremely well."

Julien nodded in acknowledgment, sliding on a pair of disposable gloves while staring at the bar. He walked around from the front to the inside, looking even closer. Maxim watched him, eyes narrowing,

"What is it?"

"Something in plain sight," He carefully held up a towel, one seen used by the stereotypical barkeep, "Could this have skin cells on it? Assuming that one of them ran the bar of course."

Maxim felt his cheeks flush. How had that gone over his head the first time? To be fair, he had been more focused on first clearing the building and they didn't have much time to investigate after the confrontation, but he still felt like it was something he shouldn't have missed. He shook it off.

"Yes, put it in a bag." He finally answered, "Oh, and you don't need to ask. If you think it could be evidence, bag it. We'll review everything back at the base, too much is better than too little."

"Alright, got it." Julien quietly went back to work, the sound of a ziplock closing and gloves being replaced breaking the silence moments later. He made his rounds going about the whole first floor, eventually coming back to the bar. He felt along the wooden boards, following from the inside to the back, stopping when he felt a weaker spot. He knocked on the wall, and upon hearing the hollow echo, he looked for ways to pry the boards out of the wall.

"Maxim!" He called, "Could you help me with this? I can't- hng! I can't get this board out!"

"I'm coming." Maxim could barely hear him due to how he was in the bathrooms, the walls surprisingly well insulated. He got to the bar to see Julien red-faced, clawing at the boards. He squatted down next to him, pulling out a rather large pocket knife and using it to carefully pry the board and nails out of the wall, revealing a small cube-shaped hidey-hole.

"Why would they nail this back up?" Maxim wondered aloud, putting on gloves while looking inside the hole. It contained many fake IDs, as well as a sizeable amount of cash. He carefully examined each ID, surprised at how different they could be while still looking identical. They were smart, each picture being slightly different from each other so you couldn't quite tell which was the real picture. Unfortunately for them and good news for Maxim, it didn't help much when he had already seen his face.

"Could we possibly get fingerprints off this?" Julien asked, holding the board. Maxim nodded, and Julien stood, "I'm going to get something to wrap it in, then."

"Look both ways before crossing the street." Maxim joked, not looking away from the IDs. Julien gave him a half laugh, then exited the building and took a large piece of cloth from the trunk of the car. He turned back to the road, catching himself from walking straight into the path of a motorcycle. He stared at the driver as they seemed to zoom by in slow motion, jaw slightly ajar.

He shook his head and held the cloth close to him, carefully looking both ways before rushing back into the bar. He gently wrapped the board in the cloth then focused on the IDs, pointing to one on the floor,

"Is this the guy that tried to burn down my apartment?" He frowned, scooting closer to see the IDs from a straighter angle. Maxim nodded,

"I believe so, both him and this lady." He slid one of the woman's IDs next to the man's, "They seem to operate as a team."

Julien was silent for a moment, then cleared his throat, "I'm going to go look upstairs."

 

The rest of the investigation didn't pull up anything else, the bar seemed to be the only place with anything useful, but even that was limited to the IDs, the board, and the towel. To be fair, if they had anything on them they would be substantially beneficial, but there was no guarantee that any of them would be anything more than trash.

"They're very thorough." Julien noted once back in the driver's seat, "It makes me wonder. They were smart enough to wipe down or avoid everything- from the doorknobs to the taps- but they still missed when anyone was home when they burnt down my house."

Maxim sat quietly, brainstorming on what to do next. He blankly stared out the window and into the side mirror, Julien's words starting to mash together.

After about 25 minutes into the drive, Maxim forcefully snapped out of it when he realized they had just taken a wrong turn,

"Julien, where are we going?"

"I don't know. All of these places are highly populated, it seems too risky to stop but we're at even more risk if we continue."

"What are you talking about?"

Julien gave him a confused yet disapproving look, "Were you not listening? We're being followed, so I’m stopping so we can deal with it. It's far too dangerous to lead them to the base."

Maxim went silent. He wasn't really sure what to do, the obvious solution was to stop somewhere unpopulated and deal with the problem, but places like that were rare in such a big, bustling city. After a minute of driving, he pointed to a park that opened into the forest.

"Let's stop there. We can follow the fence into the forest if we park close enough, we should have enough of a head start to lead them somewhere away from the public."

Julien nodded in agreement, but he had a look on his face. He was biting his lip, and his eyebrows were furrowed, he almost looked nervous.

"You don't need to worry- I'm good at combat in the forest. Perks of being a hunter."

"Huh?" Julien glanced over at him for a second, "I'm not worried."

"Then what's with the look on your face?"

He paused for a moment, hesitantly responding, "Do you think these are the ones who burned down my home?"

"I doubt it. It's probably just some of their underlings who are paid to do their dirty work."

Honestly, Maxim had no way of telling, but he didn't want Julien's emotions to get in the way and telling him what he really suspected would probably force Julien to think emotionally.

Julien was a good soldier, but this was personal and he didn't have the foggiest idea how he'd handle the situation if it turned out to be them. They'd failed their attempt to kill him in his apartment, but Maxim genuinely suspected Julien was more upset about the fact that his cat was inside the building at the time- and she almost didn't make it out.

They both got out of the car as soon as they parked, Julien almost forgetting to lock the doors as they focused on quickly walking to the trees while trying to remain as casual as possible.

Once they got to the forest, Maxim took the lead, carefully picking which way to go and what places to step. Julien followed right behind him, matching most of his footsteps. Once they were deep enough in the woods, they stopped, ducking behind the best cover they had and listening closely.

"There's three…" Maxim mumbled, faintly hearing the crunch of leaves and branches. He held up 3 fingers to Julien, who was behind a moss-veiled rock. After about a half a minute two of them stopped, only one continuing on. To Maxim- the two who hadn't come along had sounded like they stopped too far away to even see anything. He wasn't sure what their plan was, but they were either incredibly stupid or dangerous. From previous experiences, he'd have to go with the latter. He held up one finger to Julien.

The lone persons walking pattern sounded sloppy, the leaves crunching loudly beneath them and their shoes occasionally kicking into logs. They weren't very quiet, and somehow that concerned Maxim more. He looked over at Julien, who was wearing the same puzzled expression as himself.

Sniffling could soon be heard with the shuffling, as well as a shaky breath from time to time. Out of the blue came a cry of pain, the person then stumbling over a log and into a thin layer of dead foliage. They scrambled to their feet, leaves flying into the air as they continued walking.

Maxim saw Julien peeking out from behind the rock, and before he could stop him, he emerged more from behind it, rounding around to the front, crouched low with his gun lowered.

"Julien- what the hell do you think you're doing?!" He hissed, cautiously glancing around the front of the tree with his pistol raised.

Julien didn't respond, and upon seeing him, the person started to cry a little, the tears welling in their eyes starting to fall. It was just a young man, no older than his mid-twenties, wearing one of the white masks 'signature' suicide bomber vests, wires entangled around his waist and over his shoulders to ensure he couldn't safely take it off. He was completely unarmed- aside from the vest- and his face was covered in bruises and dirt.

"I-I can't stop walking." He whispered, "They'll kill me."

Julien licked his finger, wiping at one of the bruises on the man's face. He flinched away, and the bruise went pale before returning to blue.

Julien nodded, "Walk with me, then. I can get this off."

Maxim watched in disbelief- how could he be so trusting to a stranger- especially one who was wearing explosives and was sent by the enemy?

Julien was oddly calm, quietly talking with the man as they slowly walked. He traced the wires while doing so, carefully cutting the occasional one.

Maxim followed them at a distance, watching their backs and scanning the surrounding area. There wasn't much else he could do at this point aside from trust Julien who was trusting the man. He assumed the vest was to be remotely detonated, the man's hands were empty and if it hadn't gone off yet, maybe Julien was right to trust him. He wasn't sure.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for this chapter taking so long. Guess I'm busier during summer than I am the school year, lol.


	6. Chapter 6

Maxim was no stranger to explosives, but Julien was the closest they had to an expert. He didn’t dare try to get close to him or the man with the explosive vest, Julien didn’t take kindly to that kind of interference, and he was sure he’d only scare the young man more than he already was. Plus, someone needed to keep guard.

Part of him felt like there was no need- the enemy's plans so far seemed unreliable and full of holes, he was beginning to question their intelligence. He had to remind himself of the data breach, and how anything was possible. For all he knew- they could be faking it this whole time. He didn’t know why they would, either of their plans would have been devastating and nearly unstoppable if better planned and orchestrated, but he couldn’t risk assuming they were just stupid. Maybe they were testing the waters? _Don’t let your guard down- keep your head,_ he reminded himself, _this is what they want. Probably._

_Drip._

_Drip._

_Drip._

Great, now it was starting to rain. Admittedly it was only sprinkling, but knowing how England worked, that wouldn’t last long and soon it’d be pouring. Not good for them at all. Not only would it obscure his vision, but if they needed to run, they’d be at higher risk for slipping- especially with this unknown man- and they’d track the mud _everywhere._ They needed to hurry.

As if on cue, when he looked over his shoulder he saw Julien snip a final wire and quickly slide the vest off the man. Julien signaled that they would have to run, holding the vest gingerly as he pointed to the young man which way to start running. He was a civilian, and they’d catch up with him quickly even if his legs weren’t weak and wobbly.

Maxim nodded and did a final sweep behind him, not seeing anyone even in the far distance. Once he caught up to Julien, he contemplated what to do about the vest, taken by momentary surprise when Julien threw the vest in the opposite direction as far as he could, and they both started running.

He had expected Julien to attempt to completely disarm the vest but realized he’d likely need a steady hand for that, and walking while doing it wouldn’t allow that like when it was still on the man's body. Plus, the likelihood of surviving dropped with every second.

Maybe, if they were lucky, the terrorists would be stupid enough to blow themselves up chasing after them. He knew it was a stretch, but a man can dream.

Maxim could hear Julien's awkward footing, repeatedly nearly slipping on sopping leaves and brushing over the occasional foliage-covered stump that looked like a leaf pile. Maxim was doing better himself, observing the ground and making split-second decisions on where to step, but in the rush he would find himself also misstepping here and there. Unlike what he predicted, there were so many leaves on the ground that they blanketed the dirt pretty evenly, and tracking it once out of the forest was unlikely. That would save them later, but currently, it just meant he had to think more carefully about where to step.

It didn’t take long for them to catch up with the young man, Julien quickly informing Maxim that his name was Finn. Maxim didn’t seem to care much, simply throwing Finn over his shoulder as he caught up to him. It was much quicker this way, even though Maxim was slowed by Finn’s weight. He took out his phone with his free hand and started texting.

It was silent for a minute before Julien piped up, "We might have a blood sample of one of them. I hadn't thought about it until now but-" He glanced at Finn, choosing his words carefully, "when… _one of our guys_ got… mh… _in a tussle_ with a Mask, he sliced his knuckles and later, some evidence was salvaged by our guys."

"Why didn't you mention this before?"

"As I said- I hadn't thought of it before now. Just minutes ago did I consider the possibility it could be the same Mask, we'll have to get a description from your team and ask the witness himself. On top of that, I had never gotten to see the evidence, so I don't know if there was actually a blood sample, but I think it's highly likely."

"We'll look into it. After we get out of here." Maxim glanced at his phone, turning it away from Finn and seeing that he'd gotten a near-instant response from when he sent out a message. He slowed down and clicked his tongue, jerking his head to the left when Julien looked at him, "This way."

All that was left was a bit of stalling, then they'd be out of this mushy, damp forest. Though he was accustomed to mushy, damp forests, this is one of the times he wished they could just be teleported away. _This is wrong,_ he thought, _I shouldn't be the one who feels hunted. Again._

 

Finally back at base, Maxim felt more comfortable. The car had been recovered, Finn had been taken away for medical exams and questioning, and a bomb squad plus an armed team had been dispatched into the forest.

It had been just over six hours since the incident and from what Maxim could tell, Julien was still in the stage just before truly processing what had happened. He was simply sitting there, reading over the results of the bomb squad/armed team who'd swept the forest. Maxim had looked over it before him- nothing substantial. The vest was found and safely disarmed and contained, but the ones who had 'sent' Finn were nowhere to be seen. He was still skeptical that Finn was one of them, refusing to budge from the idea even if the questioning proved otherwise.

Tired of simply sitting like Julien was, Maxim stood with a huff. He decided he'd go request access to international files- which really made no sense to him- shouldn't he have access in the first place? Oh well. Maybe something helpful would be pulled off the evidence they collected by the time he'd finished filling out the documents. Hopefully- it's always nice to have something to keep busy with, he thought.

Julien glanced up when he heard him sigh, a hint of anxiousness in his eyes as he scanned him, "Where are you going?"

"To request access to the international files," He paused, "Will you be ok?"

A slight nod, "I'll be fine. I'm sure my team will be here soon to fuss over me anyway. I'll go check on the evidence later, if you want?"

"Yes. Let me know what they find- when you do."

"Yeah, I'll do that."

"Thank you." He turned and walked away, glancing at a reflection in a glass window. Julien looked down into the folder again, running fingers through his hair and sighing deeply. Maxim looked away. Hopefully his team was reliable enough to let him get it all out then help him back on his feet.

 _Good kid, and with damn good aim, just so young and näive. He's still got a lot to experience_.

 

About an hour had passed since he'd sat down at the computer when his phone buzzed, vibrating the table. Maxim sat up, tapping his phone to turn it on, and seeing a message from Julien slide up. Ah, some processing was done.

It didn't take long for him to get to the lab, slipping on one of the sterilized lab coats they were required to wear inside. He saw Julien at the back of the room through the glass door, focused on what looked like a clipboard on the desk. Maxim pushed open the door just enough to slip through, then walked over to Julien, peering over his shoulder once he stopped next to him.

"This is odd." Julien stated, without looking up.

"How so?"

"They could only pull evidence of the girl off all this. Luckily-" He flipped through the papers, "The man already gave us plenty of identifying evidence when he cut his hand in the fight with Nick. His files are pretty bare-bones though, not much on him. His real name is Jonas Williamson, 34, American but living in England for over 5 years, former army soldier. Either he's been good at working while keeping his head down, or he knows his way through systems well enough to find and remove most traces of himself. He's received some tech schooling, but I don't know if it's enough to assume he's that good."

"Is that all the information we have on him?" Maxim queried, and Julien handed him the folder.

"That's the gist of his file and unfortunately- yes- it's most of it. There's a ton on the woman, though. Ekaterina Motryuk, also known as Amelia Brooks. 31, has been off the grid since her husband and children were found dead after being missing for a week." He paused for a moment, pushing down empathy, "Testimonies mostly say the same thing, they refuse to believe she would ever kill them, she was loving and kind with them. Of course- we both know that could've been a front."

"Of course," He echoed, "Definitely not unheard of."

"Mh… hard worker, dedicated, loving. Those descriptors have come up in nearly all of them, it sounds staged. Anyway, she was born and raised in Ukraine until she was nineteen, she then moved to America and found who'd become her husband two years later. Another two years, she had twins, then roughly seven years and…" He trailed off.

Maxim wondered if this was a little too much for Julien. He figured the bit about the children was what was the most tear-jerking for him, glancing over to see if he'd continue.

Julien cleared his throat, "Her husband was a politician- not very well known, but his death elicited enough shock that she ran to England. That's the assumption, anyway. She was nowhere to be seen anywhere near the time of her family's death- before or after. She was missing for a month prior- when she was supposed to be coming back from a business trip. Their bodies were found in the basement of an abandoned house a few miles into the forest near their house; it's estimated their bodies were there for approximately two weeks before an anonymous tip was called in. The police never found out who gave the tip, or how the family got there in the first place, but there's evidence the footage from the street cameras near the house were tampered with when they disappeared."

Julien handed Maxim Ekaterina's folder, rolling his shoulders and taking a deep breath. Maxim glanced over it, then looked to Julien,

"Do we know anything about her family? Had they ever been to England?"

Julien shuffled through more folders, placing three to the side and sliding them to Maxim,

"These are their files. I haven't looked through them much yet, but I do believe they all had passports, so it's not out of the question. Actually-" He shuffled through the husbands' folder, "Ah- yes. Her husband's parents were from Wales and Scotland. If they hadn't been to England, they would have been in the area to visit- using area loosely."

"Are his parents still alive?"

"Let's see… His father died a year after his son, but his mother is still alive. May Brooks, living in a small cottage, just south of the Scottish border."

"She was the Scottish one?"

"Hmm…" A moment of silence while he scanned over the papers, "It would seem so, yes."

"Let's investigate her a bit more then, shall we? Perhaps we should go and visit her." Julien nodded in agreement and Maxim tucked the folders under his arm, leading Julien out into the hallway and both of them disposing of their lab coats once past the doors.

Before they could get to moving again, a girl with a recruit badge came rushing up to them, pink-faced and tightly holding an envelope. She handed it to Maxim when she was close enough, taking a moment to catch her breath before speaking again,

"For you, sir. It's for your current case- about the woman."

 _'More on her already?'_ He thought, _'It seems the man is a lot better at keeping his secrets. Wonder what this could be.'_

"Oh, thank you." He said simply, taking the envelope.

She gave a nod, "No problem, sir!" then she was off, zipping back down the hallway she came from. She reminded him of Ash- if she were still a recruit.

Opening the envelope and peering at the papers inside, he let out a hum, "Two leads now, hm?"

 _But,_ the question was, _which one to investigate first?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for not updating in a while, i actually finished this chapter about a week ago but i didn't have a functioning laptop and thus i didn't have a good way to update  
> school was also kicking my ass so i wasn't writing much


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